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Looking for a steady supply of horror short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

6450+ Horror Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. From hauntings and murderers to terrifying creatures from the deep, our collection of horror stories will have you breaking out in cold sweats. Take a look… if you dare.

Horror Short Stories – Page 428 of 430

Greetings From Delilah

Submitted to Contest #59

There are some places in this world where it would be forgivable to believe you may have stepped through a rift in time, where it can seem that the passage of decades goes by pleasantly unobserved by the denizens that occupy them, while also being small enough to remain unnoticed by the areas surrounding them. Other places seem to exude an almost otherworldly energy, whether it is overwhelmingly positive or unshakably negative depends entirely on who you ask, of course. Over the past few years, I’d spent much of my time enjoying the man...

22 likes 1 comment 1
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The Slow Evolution of Lilac

Submitted to Contest #58

We aren’t alive so we didn’t understand when our creator died. Business went on as usual for several days. When he didn’t move out of his bed, we figured this was something humans, living people, did. It was Lilac who figured it out. He hadn’t eaten any of the food she’d brought, and she compared the rot on the fruit beside his bed to what was beginning to grow on his face. I work in the gardens. I understand that when fruit begins decomposing it will return to the Earth. And t...

18 likes 6 comments 6
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“- Don’t Worry About That, Just Go.”

Submitted to Contest #55

Warning: This one gets a bit gory. “Can you keep a secret?” “Why would you ask me that right now?” “Mate, I just need to know; can you keep a secret?” “We are locked in an actual dungeon, in a possibly legitimately haunted house, listening to cultists chanting away in Latin, and that is all you have to say to me?” “Look, Jai, don’t take this the wrong way mate, but you have a pretty terrible track record of keeping your mouth shut.” “What?” “Well, you ruined Devon’s surprise party. And you told Rei about Andy’s crush on her. It worries me...

15 likes 5 comments 5
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Secrets

Submitted to Contest #55

Secrets The news had been covering the murders seemingly nonstop over the past 18 months and Diane was getting sick of it. While she was definitely sympathetic to the tragedies that befell the coeds, she always felt they bore some of the responsibility of their fates. As a strong Christian woman, she believed that Godly living was imperative to survival in a godless world. She felt emphatically that her Christian values are what kept her and her family safe. Her daughter was away at school and it scared her a little bit. She was a great g...

12 likes 5 comments 5
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Weekend Getaway: Sunday

Submitted to Contest #55

Jake went home to sulk. He thought things were going well with Riley, but with the other three Musketeers causing a scene, the night was a bust. By the time he got home, it was getting late on Saturday afternoon and he didn’t have the energy to drive out to the roadhouse again. He was still stirred up by the antics of Zoe, Mackayla, and Mackenna. He had hoped they would have matured since high school, but it seemed their idea of a joke had only deteriorated over the years. They ruined his weekend. Jake flopped into his unmade bed, pushed his...

17 likes 2 comments 2
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Like Him

Submitted to Contest #55

It was a car crash that killed them. My aunt and grandfather. She was driving him back to the nursing home where my grandmother was waiting. I wasn't close with them. We don’t speak to my mother’s family unless there’s a funeral or on select holidays. “I need you to go to the farm and clean up the house to get it ready for sale,” mom says through the phone.“Mom––”“Please, Charlotte, I–I can’t go back there.” She never asks me to do anything for her, which makes saying no to this one request impossible.“The estate lawyer can meet with yo...

55 likes 14 comments 14
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Grandpa's Last Gift

Submitted to Contest #55

When my grandfather died, I remember my family and I only having the rest of that sorrowful evening to lament his loss before having to appear composed and proper for his funeral service the following day. I’m still not entirely sure how we managed it, but we did. I could say the same about any number of circumstances that have occurred throughout my life. “You must chin up and carry onwards, dear Victoria,” my dad would always say. “The sorrows of life will not wait for you.”   I wasn't sure if I had the heart to do what was ...

28 likes 4 comments 4
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Were

Submitted to Contest #54

The howl pierced through the biting cold, breaking apart the bitter stillness of the night. Ron sighed, he recognized her pain woven within the inhuman cries. He shook the light dusting of snow from his shoulders, stood up, and paced around the frosted pine he had chosen to wait for her beneath. The time was quickly approaching and he wasn’t sure that he was ready. He pulled his silver ring from his finger, kissed it, then gripped it tightly in his fist as he cherished the delay of the confrontation for as long as he could. He cursed the day...

12 likes 0 comments 0
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Seething in the Marrow

Submitted to Contest #53

“Fuck off!” I yell at the muskrat.  I hurl a river rock and it strikes the metal I-beam of the trestle. The deep gong muffled by rust and ancient algae. The muskrat jerks its nose out of the popsicle wrapper and waddles away. Shyanne breaks the surface of the nearby eddy, hair plastered to her lumpy head and points at the trestle, level with the treetops.  “Not much left to worry about.”  Red syrup drips into the river from the punctured wrapper. Flies and gnats drone. We watch the sun shine through the drops as they fall,...

13 likes 1 comment 1
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The Straw Men

Submitted to Contest #53

November 2, 1961 I’ve had the most unusual experience over the past two days; something which I am still processing. It’s a strange thing, the Appalachian countryside; full of superstition and folk traditions. In the eyes of those who live there, witches still roam the hills and hollers looking for unsuspecting people to hex. Even still in this modern age of science, in some places of the world, magic is king. I recently came into possession of a cottage in West Virginia. Heh, “possession” is a good word for it. I feel as though I need a...

18 likes 11 comments 11
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Rekindled Love

Submitted to Contest #53

Boxes littered the living room floor and for as far as you could see. I pulled one down from the stack that had built up. If truth be told I had started to build a fort. Childish yes, I know, but I had needed something to entertain myself…. maybe this was why she was leaving.I sat myself down upon it to watch the news report. With most of the furniture having already gone. My sister’s words rang out in my head “Look on the Brightside bro things can’t get any worse!” Oh, but they can I thought and just had. The reporters message rang out that...

11 likes 3 comments 3
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The Wax Man Melts

Submitted to Contest #53

Spencer held a cigarette up to the heat of the sun, his thin fingers glowing semi-translucent orange in the harsh light. Riggs squinted, obscuring his soft eyes with the brim of his helmet, and reached out to gingerly take the cigarette away from Spencer. “You’re wrong, I’m pretty sure it won’t light.”“Course it will,” said Spencer. “It’s been so hot out here; it’s gotta.”“Try another?”“Try yours.” Spencer grabbed the cigarette back, taking it in his teeth and lighting it with one swift motion. The flame of the match was barely percepti...

17 likes 7 comments 7
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Teeth

Submitted to Contest #51

A little girl sat on a park bench, hands in the pockets of her small double-breasted coat, feet swinging over the edge of the seat lazily. She was all rosy cheeks and pale skin in the breath of autumn. All around her, the park’s landscape turned a pinky-orange color with the sun’s fading light. Long shadows crawled across the neatly trimmed grass and sidewalks, one such shadow cutting the bench in half right over the girl’s frame. There were only a few people other than her in the park: two lovebirds strolling through the common, a runn...

26 likes 2 comments 2
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The Newly Fallen Dark

Submitted to Contest #51

There’s something to be said for the newly fallen dark. People praise the moonlight of the true night and dance in the bright sunshine of noon. They revere the pink blush of a sunrise and they worship the golds and scarlets of the sunset. Mornings and afternoons, with their variety of brightnesses are useful and who doesn’t love a good pre-dawn stillness? But the newly fallen dark gets forgotten. Too dark for the rich, deep hues of black, blue and purple to be impressive. Too new for the first rays of moonlight and the first kisses of starli...

78 likes 53 comments 53
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FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD

Submitted to Contest #51

I remembered when I would try to play with the other kids on the block but it never worked out. It was like I was a square peg trying to fit into the round hole. I should’ve realised that there was everything wrong with me.   I cried to my mother about this but she told me not to worry. That it would pass. That one day I would find someone who understood me to hell and back. So my foolish, childish heart clung onto this false hope, getting crushed over and over when nothing came to fruition. However, it took a turn for the worst....

20 likes 3 comments 3
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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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